Taunton were desperately hoping to bounce back from the previous day's disappointment when they took on Reading Rockets on Sunday. Unfortunately, the exertions of the fast-paced encounter with Leeds seemed to have taken their toll, and Tigers struggled to find any offensive fluency.
You can watch the full game video here or View it on Vimeo. The match report continues below.
The two teams exchanged baskets regularly in the opening quarter but Reading edged ahead slowly and it took a buzzer-beating 3 point shot from Sean Clifford to keep the deficit down to 6 points at the first break.
Tigers took advantage of some sloppy play by Reading at the start of the second quarter and, with scores from Paul Yabsley, Kev Anderson, Tim Clifford and Chris Page, pulled the contest back to 32 – 33. But in the closing minutes of the half, Taunton didn't quite keep the pressure up, with the result that Reading re-grouped and forced their way to a handy 36 – 43 lead.
The pattern of Tigers having the better of the start of the period and Reading reasserting themselves in the closing minutes was repeated in the third quarter. Taunton's powerful inside players, Chris Page and Adam Rickwood, found their way to the basket regularly to bring the score to 48 – 52, only to then see the Rockets respond with a 3 – 12 run and put themselves ahead by a daunting 13 points as the fourth quarter started.
Tigers couldn't make a dent in that lead in the final period. In fact, they fell behind by as many as 22 points before a 3-pointer from Rickwood stopped the rot 4 minutes into the period. Taunton did find the energy to try to stage one more comeback, but Reading held on for a deserved victory.
The defeat still leaves Tigers in the final play-off spot of 8th in the league table. The pre-weekend hopes of a top four finish and, with it, a home tie in the first round of post-season matches have taken a serious knock, but with 7 games to go, there's still plenty to play for.